New music drops every Friday. Here are some of the noteworthy awards contenders that debuted on Feb. 21, 2025.
Sam Fender, People Watching
The British singer-songwriter has no previous Grammy nominations, but he's a hit in his native country, with his two previous albums Hypersonic Missiles and Seventeen Going Under both topping the charts and going platinum in the U.K. He hasn't quite caught on in the U.S. yet. The 30-year-old rocker peaked at No. 12 on Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart for new and developing artists with Missiles, and he has placed two songs on the Hot Rock and Alternative Songs chart, but he has otherwise kept a low profile on this side of the Atlantic. That said, he has been embraced by music journalists: People Watching has a Metacritic score of 90 based on the first six reviews counted. And as Charli XCX taught us with Brat last year, sometimes it takes a little time and a few eras before Grammy voters catch on. Keep an eye on him in rock and/or alternative categories.
Imagine Dragons, Reflections (From the Vault of Smoke + Mirrors)
The pop-rock band won one Grammy out of four nominations to date: Best Rock Performance for "Radioactive" in 2014. They also contended for Record of the Year for that breakthrough hit. Four years later, in 2018, they picked up their next two nominations: Best Pop Vocal Album for their third studio album, Evolve, and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for "Thunder." They haven't been nominated since then. So perhaps it's fortuitous of them to turn back the clock a bit. Reflections consists of previously unreleased songs that were originally recorded for their 2015 album Smoke + Mirrors, which celebrated its 10th anniversary on Feb. 17. But if they're bound to make an awards comeback, they'll probably need another breakout hit single to go along with the album; they haven't charted on the Billboard Hot 100 since 2022.
Killswitch Engage, This Consequence
The veteran metal band has been around for a quarter century, and they have received three Grammy nominations for Best Metal Performance spanning 15 years: "The End of Heartache" in 2005, "In Due Time" in 2014, and "Unleashed" in 2020. But they haven't won in any category yet. This Consequence is their first studio album in six years. Their last album, 2019's Atonement, resulted in their most recent Grammy nom, so they may make a return to the Best Metal Performance lineup this time around, perhaps for "I Believe," which reached No. 21 on mainstream rock radio. They could also break into other rock categories, but they'll probably mostly be a genre play because the Recording Academy has not warmed up to metal in the top categories like Album of the Year.
Tate McRae, So Close to What
The Canadian singer's career has been on an upward trajectory. Her first studio album, 2022's I Used to Think I Could Fly, debuted at No. 13 on the Billboard 200. Her followup the very next year, 2023's Think Later, made it the No. 4 and went platinum. That album contained "Greedy," the biggest hit of her career so far, peaking at No. 3 on the Hot 100. So Close to What could continue that trend and perhaps even get her her first Grammy nomination. She might have been nominated already if she weren't ever so slightly out of sync with the Recording Academy. She wasn't eligible for Best New Artist this past year because she had already submitted herself for consideration in that category three times prior. And she wasn't eligible for the original recorded version of "Greedy" because it was released in the eligibility period before it became a smash hit. But she did win twice at the Juno Awards (Canada's equivalent to the Grammys) in 2024: Artist of the Year and Single of the Year ("Greedy"). That shows support from her music peers — at least the peers up north — so don't write off the 21-year-old artist.
Nao, Jupiter
The English singer-songwriter hasn't made a huge commercial impression in the U.S. thus far: she hit No. 25 on adult R&B radio with her 2018 single "Make It Out Alive," and her first two albums, For All We Know and Saturn, made the Heatseekers chart. But unlike aforementioned fellow Brit Sam Fender, she's already a Grammy nominee. Saturn earned her a bid for Best Urban Contemporary Album in 2020. Alas, no such luck with her subsequent album And Then Life Was Beautiful. But she's on the Academy's radar, so she could return to the Grammys fold in R&B categories with her interplanetary grooves.
